1. Massage & Stress Management
Cynthia Bretheim, Health Educator
Nov. 2012

2. How many of you have gotten a professional
massage?
What did it do for you? How did you feel afterward?
It helps you be aware of your thoughts, emotions,
and sensations.
Bretheim, Stress & Massage, 11/2012

3. Cave drawings show touch therapies
as early as BC 2330.
Early writings mention different types of massage as
early as BC 722-481.
There are over eighty bodywork modalities today.
Most states require licensing, and there are hundreds
of professional schools that train
and certify practitioners in
different modalities.

4. Please expand your touch repertoire
beyond sex, sports, or violence.
This is especially important to those who plan to have
children. Know how strong your hands are and be
comfortable with healthy touch.
Bretheim, Massage, 11/12

5. Our bodies need touch in order to thrive.
Bretheim, Massage and Stress 11/12

6. Stay seated or standing.
Lift one leg. Lift the other leg.
How do they feel?
Rub your hands together briskly, and slide them around the
top of your left or right thigh. Squeeze and shake your
muscles all the way down to your foot.
Lift one leg. Lift the other leg.
How do they feel?
Hmmm…

7. Benefits of Massage
 Increases circulation
 Slows breathing
 Equalizes blood pressure
 Enhances immunity by stimulating lymph flow
 Enhances your mood by releasing feel-good
endorphins
 Creates chemical changes that reduce pain and stress
throughout the body. Cortisol, which is produced
when you are stressed, is reduced after massage.
 Helps athletes of any level prepare for and recover
from strenuous workouts.
 Helps decrease pain from fibromyalgia, migraines, and
recent surgery.

8. Massage also:
Reduces withdrawal symptoms in adults trying
to quit smoking. Why? (So massage might help
you.)
Helped children who were massaged every day
by their parents stick to their diet regimens,
which helped reduce their blood glucose levels.
(So it might help you follow your inner wisdom.)
Why?

9. Lights, camera, action
Your nervous system and senses
YOU.
Thoughts, Other people, events
Emotions,
Sensations, Weather, environment
etc.
Massage helps you become aware of your environment
and the conditions affecting you, so you can use
techniques and focus to protect your health.
Lights, camera, action
YOU.
Your nervous system and senses
Thoughts,
Emotions, Health Other people, events
Sensations, Techniques
etc. and Habits
Weather, environment

10. So let’s try some massage right now.
First, shake out your hands.
o Hold and squeeze tops of shoulders and neck.
o Grip the trapezius and let the arms hang. If it’s
more comfortable, cross your arms.
o Massage and squeeze the arm from the deltoid all
the way to your hand, rolling the tissue
across the bone.
o Massage wrist, palm, and fingers, and
pinching the web between fingers.

11. o Massage face and scalp. Pull out from the center of the forehead,
circle at the temples, and draw small circles around the ear.
o Use fingertips to knead the skin on top of the sacrum. Can you pull up
your skin and roll it between your fingers?
o Grab and squeeze the tissue on either side of the spine as far up as
you can.
o Now, squeeze and knead the top ridge of the hips.

12. You can’t reach your back very easily. What other ways
are there to massage your back?
o Breathe. Move your lower ribcage. Feel the pull on the inside of
your spine from muscles of the diaphragm. You could be giving
your back a massage with every breath. No pauses or breath
holding. See how deeply and slowly you can breathe.
http://coherence.com/coherence_clock_html_production1.htm
o Stretch from side to side, forward and back.

13. Consider the benefits of massage.
Does it offer short-term gratification?
Does it offer long-term gratification?
You can do it yourself, or go to a professional. You can trade
massages with trusted friends.

14. How to choose a massage therapist?
o Check them out
o Ask your friends for referrals
o Trust your gut
Professional massage ethics require proper draping for
modesty, and that the massage is done in a safe,
confidential, and relaxing environment.
Be sure to say if pressure is too hard or it doesn’t feel
right. Massage doesn’t have to hurt to benefit
you. Know the difference between soreness to relieve
pain, and just plain hurting.
Trust yourself.
The massage therapist can’t read your mind.

15. References for more information
Wikipedia.org, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massage
Ashley Montagu, 1971. Touching, the Human Significance of Skin.
Professional Massage Associations:
Association of Bodywork and Massage Professionals (ABMP)
American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA)
Nat’l. Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork
(NCBTMB)
Other modalities: rolfing, Trager, myofacial release, cranio-sacral,
Feldenkrais manual therapy